if you’ve listened to the Podcast for more than a few episodes, you know we like to go all philosophical on you listeners. Doesn’t matter what kind of show we’re doing, we can get there. It’s a gift.
One of the common themes we hit is what sets us apart from animals. There’s a lot of different things that go into the answer to that, but one I like to talk about is our relationships. Humanity has deep, personal relationships that almost no other animal can come close to matching.
If you’re of a theological bent, you can say that it’s because “It’s not good that man should be alone.” That’s from Genesis in the Bible. Old Testament. First book. Right in the beginning. Easy to find. Go l ok it up if you like. I’ll wait….
So besides being pronounced by God, why are relationships so important?
We define a good deal of who we are by our relationships and our roles in those relationships. They are essential to our identity. They are fundamental. Look at how we organize ourselves. Families, nuclear and extended. Especially extended. The nuclear family is actually a new concept in society. Large extended families living together was more the norm until the Industrial Revolution.Next we organize into communities. Neighborhoods, towns, cities, counties, states, provinces and nations. It’s just our nature.
So why bring this up? Because we’ve somehow. broken the relationships. Different positions on various social, political and religious issues are no longer points of discussion. They are points of war instead. We no longer have fellow travelers. We only have comrades in arms, ready to fight the enemy to the death.
Don’t believe me? Look at the civil unrest, riots and violence in the U.S. this summer. It’s the logical result of the division all groups and political parties have fostered for the last 25 years or more. We’ve forgotten that not agreeing with me doesn’t take away your humanity or someone else’s.
I don’t know how we get back to a better set of relationships entirely. But I’m pretty sure it begins by remembering we’re all human, all part of the same community and nation. It’s about remembering the other guy has a family too that he loves. It’s about remembering we’re all the same where it matters. We have the ability to reason and act. We have the ability to choose our actions and responses. We all have an eternal soul.
I don’t bring this up because I’m some pie in the sky fantatist who thinks everyone will get along if we’re just nice to one another. It’s. It that easy. Getting along is work. Hard work. It takes work to seek to understand rather than to dominate.
The problem seems to be that no one wants to work at it anymore. We’re too lazy as a nation to do the hard work of having a healthy, adult relationship with people that don’t think just like us already.
Stop it. Just stop it.
Do the work dammit. It’s worth it. We’re worth it individually and as a nation.
